Wings of Glass
by KuraiFriend
Summary: There's a reason why Jay doesn't practice air that much. Well, not really, but when he does, drastic things happen. Now he and Lloyd must find out where these wings came from, all the while hiding them from the others. GreenWisp (Jay/Lloyd) vs. GreenFlame (Kai/Lloyd) with some Pixane (Zane x Pixal). A tad gory at one part, but skipable. ...Wow, that's a lot of warnings. Meh.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Ideas would be greatly appreciated. Credit will be awarded.**

**The part where he grows wings might be a tad gory...go ahead and skip that part if you want.**

* * *

"Aw yeah! Ninja air-kick!" Jay sprung into the dummy with the full force of the wind behind him, sending the dummy off its wooden peg.

"Ninja air-roll!" The lightning wielder tumbled under a couple of wooden swords, the air pushing him further and granting his body more speed.

"Ninja air-_SLICE!_" he took the blade of his current weapon- a wakizashi- and swung it down hard onto another practice dummy, parting the wind so its tip hit quicker, harder and cleaner, practically cutting the dummy in half.

"Cool down their, Air Head," Kai called to the boy while fending off his attacker, who so happened to be Cole.

"You've been practicing air all week and not once handled electricity during that time," Zane pointed out, "Perhaps it would be best to take a break and try some of that?"

"Nah! I've been using lightning since we started! A couple weeks of air won't hurt anything!"

"There is an old saying my father used to tell me: If you do not use it, you lose it."

"Zane's right. At this rate, you'll be flying by the next week but won't know how to light a light bulb," Cole took a swing at Kai and managed to knick his chest, gaining a smirk.

"Don't worry guys! I'll be fine!"

"If you're sure," Kai put his sword back in defeat and Cole followed, but in victory. They both grabbed a towel to wipe off some sweat that beaded their foreheads. Zane placed the katana over with the rest of the practice weapons and caught up with his brothers. Though unable to sweat, he still partook in the dabbing of his skin, mostly out of habit.

"You comin' Jay?" The fire ninja called as they headed inside.

"You guys go ahead. I'm gonna work on some new techniques!"

"Don't fall off the edge!"

Jay chuckled, "I'm not gonna fall off the edge of the Bounty!"

"You say that now, but give it a couple of minutes!" Kai joked and slid the door shut.

"Ninja BOUNCE!" The blue enthusiast exclaimed and twirled several feet in the air.

"This. Is so. COOL!"

**LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!**

It had been, what? Two hours?

Something like that.

The brunette had been right in the middle of trying to have the wind move himself (totally _NOT_ for lazy reasons!) when he began to feel a deep throbbing in his back.

"Ow! Owowow!" Jay stopped the tail wind and painfully made his way over to a bench, "Ow! Quit it! OW!" He rubbed his back, specifically focusing between his shoulder blades. It had little effect, though it did allow him to feel two nubs that were small and rather hard, but definitely were there. In fact, that was where most of the pain seemed to be emanating from. They even seemed to be swelling! But that's not right...they weren't swelling, they were growing!

"What the- OWOWOWOWOW!" he felt his muscles tighten around that spot, only intensifying the pain. Sure the throbbing stopped, but now his back was stiff!

"Owowow! Stop! OW!" Before the ninja toppled over in the feeling, the upper half of his body resting on the wooden seat and the other half kneeling from lack of energy. Not once did the thought call for help cross his mind.

"OWOWOW! Stop it!" He felt some skin crack open and liquid dripping out, though he couldn't look behind him. Reaching back, his fingers grazed over- was that _bone?!_ No, no, no, not possible! Of course, this action only increased his pain, so he almost immediately pulled them back to find them laced with some crimson-colored fluid.

"_What is this?!"_ he thought, struggling to stay conscious. The bones pierced through even more, arching up and tearing even more skin. Jay bit his lip in an attempt to keep himself from screaming. His breathing was fast and heavy. It seemed as if this feeling would never stop as it just kept increasing.

Finally, it reached its climax, and Jay couldn't hold it any longer.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Even though it was loud and high-pitched as he could possibly make it, there was barely any sound for two reasons:

1) His lungs were too busy playing the hyperventilation game.

2) He was almost completely depleted of energy. All the training must've worn him out. Yeah, that was it. Training.

Jay fell to the floor, panting as the pain had finally stopped. Someone was sure to have heard him, right? Probably. He hoped they did.

After his breathing calmed, he felt his heartbeat (which had apparently been near the point of heart attack) slow. Then he felt something else. But wait, what was this? What he felt wasn't inside his body, but protruding out his back! Were they the bones from before? Whatever it was, there were two; both starting somewhere between the shoulder blades and ending at least five feet away, most likely longer.

"Wha...what…?" There was something growing off of them, something soft and light and-

He slowly stood back up, a tad sore but not anywhere near as bad as before, and stretched the bones out.

-_feathers?!_

It was hard to get a good look from his angle. Jay's neck did not agree to twisting how he wanted it to twist. Instead, he took a look into one of the newly-shined suits of armor.

_WINGS?!_

"Jay?"

The wings instantly folded down and Jay spun around to find none other than Lloyd standing in the doorway.

"He-hey Lloyd!" the blue ninja nervously brought a hand to his head and smiled.

The green, in return, gave him an odd look, "We heard something up here...everything okay?"

"Yup! Everything's alright! Nothing wrong here!"

"What's behind your back?"

"Behind my back?" Jay turned his head- _only_ his head- to imitate looking behind him, "I don't see anything!"

"I thought I saw something white and red on you."

"Lloyd, I should know if there was something on my back."

The green ninja suspiciously raised an eyebrow, "Okay…"

"I was just heading in now, so if you'll excuse me," Jay sidestepped around his friend to avoid showing anything he'd regret, then continued to walk with his back against the wall. He did this until reaching the bathroom, at which point he slammed the door shut. He then turned toward the mirror.

With his wings folded, nothing could be seen. Not looking straight at him, anyway. A peek from the side showed one that extended down to his knee, mainly white but with a few spots of sticky blood here and there. The other side revealed pretty much the same thing, so he faced the mirror again and spread them, knocking over a few bottles of shampoo with one and hitting the wall with the other, which still hurt a little from them being sore. He tried to angle them in a comfortable position, and with much effort, was able to.

The nina smiled, his eyes wide in awe.

"I have..._angel wings_…"

"Woah…"

Jay turned and his smile faded in horror, realizing he forgot to lock the door.

"Lloyd!" His wings folded up and tried to hide themselves once more, but it was much too late for that.

"How did you do that?"

"Why did you follow me?!"  
"You were acting weird. Something seemed wrong."

The blue ninja stood there for a moment in shock and terror. He may not know how or why he got them, but he _did_ know that the others couldn't find out.

"Lloyd, please don't tell anyone!"

"Why not? That's so cool! Do they work?"

"_Please_ Lloyd, this is very important!"

The blonde frowned, "Okay, I promise I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you so much," Jay sighed in relief.

"But if you really don't want people knowing, you're gonna need to hide them better than that."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you can't have your back to the wall the whole time!" he stated matter-of-factly, "You're gonna need a disguise."

"Well, what do ya suggest?"

* * *

**I have a poll set up for what pairing(s) (if any) should be in this fic. I'm not taking any suggestions for pairings (unless they're with minor characters and can be thrown into the background), but go ahead and vote. If no one votes...I think I'm gonna end up doing Jay/Lloyd, or GreenWisp because I haven't tried it yet and it kinda makes sense for this fic...at least to me it does.**

**Anyway, some info:**

**This fic is gonna have drama at some parts and humor at some and romance when a and b aren't applicable, but the mood probably won't stay the same for too long. The main plot is that Jay tries to hide his wings while finding why he grew them in the first place (which I already have in mind) and Lloyd tries to help him.**

**Please only chose ONE pairing with Jay while voting; other than that, feel free to vote whatever. There IS a "none" option (boooooring but doable). Any pairings that are tied when the polls close will either co-exist or add some love-drama-triangle-thing. For instance, if Jay/Lloyd and Zane x Pixal are at a tie, they will both be in the fic (they would've been anyway if they were the highest-rated pairings for Jay, Lloyd, Zane and Pixal), but if Jay/Lloyd and Jay/Kai end in a tie, there will be some kind of drama going on and I'll have another poll to see where you guys want THAT to go.**

**I do not know when I will close the poles as of now.**

**Here are the choices:**

**-PlasmaShipping (Jay/Kai)**

**-TechnoShipping (Jay/Zane)**

**-BruiseShipping (Jay/Cole)**

**-GreenWispShipping (Jay/Lloyd)**

**-Pixane (Zane x Pixal)**

**-GlacierShipping (Zane/Cole)**

**-PopsicleShipping (Zane/Lloyd)**

**-GreenFlameShipping (Kai/Lloyd)**

**-Nyxal (Nya/Pixal)**

**-None!**

**Again, you can vote on the poll on my profile.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I have a headcanon where Lloyd is obsessed with magick. Deal.**

**Also, I think I'm gonna close the poll after I upload the 3rd or 4th chapter. It's really hard to write interactions without knowing the pairs. So hurry up and vote!**

* * *

"I dunno, Lloyd. You sure this'll work?"

"Jay, please. I got onto a bus full of serpentine with just glasses, a hat, and a pair of maracas at the age of twelve. I'm positive this'll work."

Jay looked at himself in the mirror once more and spun. The black cloak draped over him completely, save for anything past his ankles.

"How does this even fit, anyway?"

Lloyd laughed, "It's not one I had as a kid! Probably the first thing I did after growing five years in two minutes was buy more of these. I guess it was for comfort or something."

"Lloyd's still attached to his blanky, huh?"

"Shut up!" The green ninja playfully punched the blue in his arm and they laughed.

Lloyd calmed first, "Now that I helped you, you owe me some answers."

"Okay. Like what?"

"How'd you get them?"

Jay paused, "I don't actually know."

"Well, what were you doing?"

"Just practicing my elemental powers."

"But which one?"

"Air."

Lloyd waited for Jay to put the pieces together, but when the latter waited for the former to say something, the former sighed, "Wings are in tune with the element of air. That doesn't explain why you grew them, but it's a start."

"Great, I'm sure that'll get to the source!"

"Actually, it might. There are plenty of wing spells out there! If someone casted one, all we have to do is cast a reverse spell."

"You mean I have to _un_grow them?!"

"If you want them gone, but I don't know why you would."

"Just...do the spell."

"Okay," The blonde reached under his pillow and pulled out a black binder overflowing with notebook paper and post-it notes. He fished through it, pulling out one piece of paper in particular that was coated in scribbles, "Repeat after me. My spell went wrong,"

"My spell went wrong…"

They recited a short rhyme and to finish, Lloyd asked, "Well? How do you feel?"

Jay waited a couple of seconds before answering, "The same as before."

"Huh. Alright, then try this: A spell was cast,"

Once again they recited a rhyme and once again Jay claimed it didn't work.

"Must not be a spell then," The green ninja replaced the binder and flopped down on the bed, "That's all I got. What about you?"

"Maybe I'm part bird?"

"I'd like to know how _that_ happened."

"If I'm not part avian, then where do you suggest we start?"

Lloyd's face lit up, "The bookstore!"

"The bookstore?"

"I saw a book there on people with wings!"

"Why would they-"

"Just trust me on this one!"

Jay nodded hesitantly, "Okay, but what do we tell the others?"

"That we're going to the bookstore."

"But don't we _not_ want them to know?"

The blonde sighed, "Jay I really need to teach you how to lie. There's nothing unusual about going out to buy a book, so that's one less lie. The less lies, the better."

"What about the cloak?"

"To cover up an invention. It's a secret."

At that moment, Jay considered himself lucky that he had Lloyd on his side.

* * *

**If you go to my profile, I have a update on what ships are in first place.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Happy birthday to me! (technically yesterday) Anyway, I'm in a hurry so I'll make this quick. I'm gonna close the polls RIGHT BEFORE I upload ch. 4. So far GreenWisp is in the lead, so I expressed that a tiny bit here.**

* * *

"Can't you fly?" Lloyd and Jay stood outside on the sunny deck, debating how to reach the ground.

Jay shrugged, "I didn't try!"

"Well then now's the time!"

"What if someone sees me?"

"We're hundreds of feet in the air on a giant flying boat. I doubt anyone's going to pay attention."

"What about if we land?"

"That what back allies are for!"

"What if I crash?"

Lloyd pondered this for a moment, "Maybe we should practice."

"Practice? I just want them _gone!_"

"But you can fly us down if you practice enough! Then you won't have to talk to the others. You might as well use 'em 'til you lose 'em!"

"Yeah…" Jay sighed, "okay. Let's practice."

"I can be your coach! Since I've got nothing better to do."

Jay spread his wings out from under the cape, "Where do I start?"

"Why're you asking me?"

"You're my coach!"

"Oh yeah!" The blonde put a hand to his chin a thoughtful manner, "You could start by...flapping them."

The brunette looked over his coach's expression with minor confusion, but followed his orders. The feathery appendages didn't look it, though. They appeared to be less flapping and more having an epilepsy.

"Not like that! Both, at the same time!" Since that was _very_ descriptive, Jay still had problems getting his muscles in sync.

"You're still not doing it right."

"I'd be better if someone else could show me."

It was Lloyd's turn to sigh, "I can't exactly give a demonstration, but…" he walked behind the slightly older, reaching out and gently latching onto a spot close to the wings' base. Jay flinched slightly, the appendages still a bit raw, but didn't object. Lloyd realized that this was his first time touching something so magical and savored ever second of it. He rubbed his hands along the wings, taking in their fluffy softness (save for a few spots of dried blood) and angelic glow. They were so white, so pure…

"_Just like Jay…"_ Lloyd shook his head, "_...What?"_

"Lloyd? You okay back there?"

"Yeah. Uh, your wings are soft."

"Thanks?"

"A-Anyway! You gotta flap 'em both together, like clapping."

"Heh, one-armed clapping."

"Here, I'll start you off," the blonde moved his wrists in and out, creating minor movements in the appendages. Lloyd was surprised at how much two piles of feathers could weigh, but the motions were very small and didn't cause too much of a problem. Eventually Jay joined in, and the two were stirring up decent winds in no time.

The shorter backed up a bit, "Great! Now that you have control of your movement, go fly around!"

"Uh, pretty sure there's more to it than that."

"Just try it!"

The lightning wielder took a step forward, then another, then another…flapping his wings, he ran to the other end and jumped.

...And landed back on his feet.

So he tried this again, but with no change.

"Try catching the wind when you jump!"

Jay sprinted along the edge of the Bounty, flapping powerfully and feeling the light breeze flow beneath his enormous wingspan. At the end he jumped, fumbling for a moment but staying in the air for just a second longer than he should have.

"That's great!" Lloyd exclaimed, running towards the winged human in congrats.

"I only stayed up for a second."

"But you did better than you did before!"

"I guess that's true!"

"Keep trying! Don't run this time- just lift yourself up."

The brunette took a step into the open, spreading out his appendages and motioned as he did before, springing up and bending his knees back. Only this time, he stayed in the air.

"Lloyd, look!" His eyes were gleaming with pride.

"I know! So cool!"

Jay began to move forward but was deemed unsuccessful by the ground hitting his bum.

"Aww…"

"You got off the ground, that's a start."

"Now I have to figure out how to move."

"Or we could work on landing? That's probably important."

"Good point," the lightning wielder scrambled to his feet and lifted off again with slightly less difficulty than before, "Un, how do I land?"

The blonde shrugged, "Fall slowly?"

Jay rolled his eyes, mentally going through a list of ways not to fall on his butt. He eventually settled on Lloyd's idea somewhat, slowing his flapping frequency and closing in on the ground until his feet were gently gracing the wooden floor. Upon trying this again- just to be sure- it took even less time than before.

"I did it!"

Lloyd smiled brightly, "You're a _natural!_"

"I know! …I still can't move."

"Then let's fix that!"

"But how?" The brunette rose for lift-off, then tried to forward only to once again land on his rear.

"If you positioned your wings so they're more like a sail when you move, maybe you'll be able to steer better?"

"Steering's not the problem," Jay gave it a go anyway, but fumbled and was barely able to keep himself up.

"What now?"

Lloyd shrugged just as a lightbulb went off over Jay's head. He ceased movement (save for his wings), closed his eyes and focused.

"...Jay?"

"Shh!" A few moments later came a wind just strong enough to push him. He harnessed this air, wrapping it around himself and keeping it steady underneath himself. Like a gliding kite, he kept in the sky.

"Woah!"

The lightning wielder's lips curved upward, "I'm doing it!"

"Yeah! ...Wait, isn't that cheating?"

"A bumblebee shouldn't be able to fly at all, but no one say's the bumblebee's cheating."

"Uh, okay. If it works, then let's get to the bookstore!"

"Right!" Jay reached down to pick the blonde up, however was thrown completely off balance before even getting him off the ground. They looked at each other' puzzled faces. The former landed and tried to lift the younger.

"You're..._really_ heavy!"

"I probably weigh less than you!"

The blue ninja dropped the green without getting him as much as an inch off the ground and panted in recovery.

"Cole's...strength could...come in handy...right about now…"

"Maybe we could-"

"Hold on," Jay placed one of his arms behind Lloyd's shoulders and another under his knees, then proceeded to carry him bridal-style.

Lloyd's cheeks flushed a light pink, "What're you doing?"

"This is _way _easier than trying to hold you the other way!"

"Uh, yeah...easier…" Jay hesitated before flying off the Bounty (while Lloyd clinged onto him for dear life) but was soon soaring with ease.


	4. Chapter 4

**So I said no OCs but...**

* * *

Lloyd slowly brought his arms up to the branch in front of him, "Nice going."

Jay detangled his left foot from a mess of leaves, then started on the right, "I'm not exactly an expert at this."

Two legs curled up underneath themselves so their owner, Lloyd, could balance on his knees, "I noticed."

"Where are we anyway?" The ninja of lightning looked around their location- stuck in the only visible tree, surrounded by a couple of blades of grass (but mostly dirt), with grey brick walls to mark the boundaries.

"A secret garden next to Bookworm's Best. It seemed like a good place to land at the time, since practically no one goes back her," he paused to wriggle into a sitting position, "I thought you'd fly better than that."

"I told you I'd never done this before!"

"That's why we practiced! Now come on. The others might start to wonder where we are," Lloyd climbed up a couple branches and carefully removed one wing from entanglement, which forced Jay to regain balance. The blonde then plucked the tip of the other feathery appendage and folded it towards its owner as he had see it do naturally. Unfortunately, this sudden shift in weight caused the branch to _snap!_ and both ninja went tumbling down, green landing on top of blue.

"Ow!"

"Sorry!" the former scurried off the latter, "You okay?"

"I think you broke my wing…"

"Try flapping it!"

Jay rose quite capably, but found himself unable to move his left wing without having difficulty or pain.

"Oh no! It really is broken!" the brunette cried as he folded them back under his torn-up cloak.

"What do we do now?!"

"I don't know! We don't need to go back yet, but we won't be able to when we do!"

Lloyd sighed and regained his composture, "We don't need to go now, so...cross the bridge when we get there?"

"What?! But what if something goes wrong and we need to leave _fast_ but we can't 'cause we don't know how and-"

"I know we need a way back...but there isn't one. Not right now. Do you know where to find one?"

"...No."

"Yeah, I think...I think we should do what we know first."

"But-...okay."

The two stared at each other for a moment before Lloyd grabbed Jay's hand and led him into a narrow alleyway.

A little boy poked his head out of a crack in the wall furthest from the ninja, of whom he watched disappear into the shadows.

"Did he…" the small blonde, green-eyed kid with rugged sneakers and a tattered black cloak fairly similar to Jay's gasped, "...have..._wings?_" He scurried after them in curiosity, staying out of sight.

* * *

"Here!" Lloyd's bright green eyes sparkled with pride as he thrusted a book titled 'The Avian in You' into the air, "I told you they had a book on bird people!"

"Does it have anything on how _not _to be one?"

The blonde shrugged, "I didn't look through it much."

"Then open it!"

"Okay!" he flipped open the cover and skimmed over the table of contents, "I don't see anything."

"Uggg!"

"BUT! It does have parts on how and why you become one!"

"How?"

"Hold on!" Lloyd flipped to some random page and began reading off the text, "Avian is the technical term for a bird and can be recognized from words such as 'aviary'. The most well-known trait that distinguishes birds from mammals (besides bats) is the ability to fly.

Since the beginning of time, man has been fascinated with these creatures and their amazing feathered appendages. There were those who were fine with admiring from the distant ground, but there were also those who wanted to be free from the restrictions of Earth and soar in the sky…

This sounds like a myth book."

"That's probably what it is. Just skip to the how and why."

The green ninja flipped through a couple more pages, "People sometimes are born with the blood of a bird. This is rare, but typically results from either a strong connection to birds within your family tree or past lives. A more common way to become part avian is to cast spells or perform rituals tied to the element of air…"

Jay and Lloyd exchanged a glance.

"I told you!"

"Hey!" a chubby man with glasses barreled toward them, "This isn't a library! Either buy something or get out!"

"How much is it?" the lightning wielder turned to the back.

"Ten bucks."

"Alright!" They dashed toward theh counter, one still holding the purple-covered stack of pages. It was only then that Jay realized something.

"...I don't have any money."

Lloyd sighed, "Inside, front left pocket."

The blue-eyed boy's hand explored the interior of the cape, and low-and-behold, resting in one of the flaps of cloth was twenty-seven dollars and a somewhat sharp blade.

"Thanks!" he exclaimed, taking out two five-dollar bills, "...Why is there a knife in here?"

"Knife?" Lloyd furrowed his brow in confusion, but winked.

"Yeah, there's a knife-" he shuffled around on the inside of the cloth. The green-eyed boy rolled his eyes, frowned, and grabbed Jay's wrist to lead him to the cashier.

"Good morning," a warty old woman grumbled from behind the desk, "Thank you for shopping at Bookworm's Best. Did you find everything okay?"

* * *

"She seems like she could use a little more happy in her life," Jay remarked as they exited the store. He swished a plastic bag back-and-forth as he walked.

"I wouldn't try saying that to her face again. Looked like she was gonna punch you!"

"Yeah, I think I'll avoid that trainwreck."

They stopped, gapping at the site of a flying ship beginning to land about a block away.

"...Well, looks like we found our way back."

* * *

**I HAVE THE FINAL RESULTS OF THE POLE!**

**A total of seventeen people voted. I thank each and every one of you for helping me decide. Here's how I'm doing this: the top three pairings are going to be in. However, two of the pairings share a person in common. Since they were not tied, I don't need to have another poll, but I will be including both of them. You'll just have to wait to see which one has the higher number of votes as the fic continues!**

**Here's how it turned out:**

**None - 1 - Some funny guy decided to vote for this. ...Of course, some funny guy also decided to add this as an option...**

**Nyxal (Nya/Pixal) - 1 - Too bad, this would've been interesting to include. Ah well, maybe I'll make a one-shot of it in the future. I'm slowly starting to ship it...(don't ask why)**

**Bruise (Cole/Jay) - 1 - Huh. I know it's not as popular as the others, but I was honestly expecting it to be higher up than that.**

**Popsicle**** (Zane/Lloyd) - 3 - Yeah, I didn't think this would make it...got higher than I thought it would, though.**

**Techno (Zane/Jay) - 3 - At one point, this baby was in the lead. Wonder what happened.**

**Glacier (Zane/Cole) - 4 - Don't worry, there will definitely be more one-shots of these guys in the future, and possibly a multichapter. Just not in here.**

**Plasma (Jay/Kai) - 4 - I'm already in the middle of another one-shot with them (yes, I know, so many one-shots...ugg...), so don't be sad, Plasma shippers!**

**The moment you've all been waiting for...**

**Our top three pairings are Pixane (Pixal x Zane), GreenFlame (Kai/Lloyd) and GreenWisp (Jay/Lloyd). Honestly, I was a bit surprised that Pixane and GreenWisp made it up here. From what I can tell, they're not that popular...but I'll take it!**

**Anyway, Pixane won't have any problems. Since the main characters are Jay and Lloyd (and maybe others...? /wink-wink/), it won't exactly be the _main_ pairing, but there will definitely be enough of it, you can assure yourself of that!**

**As for GreenFlame and GreenWisp, I'm not revealing which one won _quite_ yet. As I said earlier, it wasn't a tie, so I already know which one is going to win, but I'm not telling you 'til either near or at the very end. Tee-hee...you're welcome. There will be plenty of both in the story, no worries. I'm thinking about making a GreenFlame fic in the future, and I'm already working on a GreenWisp one-shot (so many projects at once...now I know why I don't get anything done...), so either way, you'll get the satisfaction of both of them one way or another.**

**If your OTP didn't win, I'll be opening requests once I finish my smaller projects! Thank you so much for all of you that made it this far, and I hope you enjoy the fic!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Wow, such a short post that took forever to write...I'm so sorry! There is some emotional trouble I'm going through at the moment, but for the most part, it's just lack of inspiration. Still chugging along, though! And if anyone is willing to send me _ideas, _I _will_ credit them, even if I don't end up using any of it! (I'll credit everyone at the end.) Seriously, they could really help.**

**I'm also looking for a beta. If anyone's interested, PM me!**

**And sorry if I got any French wrong. I had my teacher help, but I'm still only in level two, so...(yes, there are translations so if French is like Greek to you (y'know...unless you actually speak Greek...), then you can still understand).**

* * *

A tan, spikey brunette with amber eyes rushed out of the ship along with his sister, Nya. The two were only in the front line, though, as Cole ran after them, followed by Zane hand-in-hand with Pixal.

"What were you two thinking?!" Kai was the first in front of them, nagging his boyfriend and friend as if they had nearly died.

"We just wanted to look at some books…" Lloyd pouted and batted his eyelashes.

"Why didn't you just tell us first?" Nya scolded, "We could've landed for you! How'd you even get down anyway?"

"Uhhh…"

"Jay's jetpack," the green-eyed saved his companion from an awkward explanation.

"Is that what's on your back?"

"Um, yes."

"Can we see?"

"He doesn't want anyone to see until the kinks are worked out."

"Yeah! It's still in the, er, prototype stage."

"So why'd you get to see it?" Cole asked.

"I wanted to look at books. He wanted to test his invention. Perfect for both of us."

Kai shot Jay an 'I'll-kill-you-if-you-touch-him' look, "Well he better not try anything."

Lloyd rolled his eyes, "He's not gonna try anything, Kai."

"Just making sure."

The group recollected and began returning to the ship when Jay asked, "How'd you find use anyway?"

Zane smiled and pointed to the falcon perched on a lamppost. It cawed in response.

They dispersed inside, returning to their activities.

"So what did you get?" Nya questioned as the three entered the dining room.

"A...book," Jay slung the bag behind his back and faced her.

"I know that! I mean, what kind of book?"

"Just some birds," Lloyd cut in.

"Birds? I didn't know either of you were into birds."

The blue-eyed decided to be brave, "Well I need to know the different flight patterns to...fix some errors with my jetpack! It's rotor malfunctions every now-and-then, plus the wind keeps screwing it up."

Nya nodded, "Alright. Can't wait to see your invention!" and left the room.

The blonde facepalmed.

"Pretty good lie, huh?"

"Okay, a: don't talk about it right after the person leaves the room and b: KISS."

"KISS?"

"Keep it simple, stupid."

"But it sounds so much more believable if there's details!"

"Then you have to keep track of those details, though! I was just gonna shrug- that could pass off as so many different things, if I even needed it to."

"Oh...woops."

"And really," he brought his voice down to a whisper, "we shouldn't even be having this conversation right now. Nya could be right outside the door!"

Jay shifted his feet, "No...she wouldn't...do that…"

Lloyd crept up to the door, slowly turning the knob and flinging it open. An old lightbulb flickered and a board creaked under some weight. No life to be found.

"You were lucky...this time."

Jay sighed in relief.

"Seriously," the green ninja slammed the door shut which caused his blue companion to jump, "leave the lying to me."

"How am I supposed to get any practice if you do all the work?"

"I dunno! Take the little things! This isn't just some, 'I-stole-the-last-cookie-from-the-jar! And _you're_ the one who doesn't want to tell the others, anyway!"

"I just…" Jay paused, his tail between his legs, "Désole...je ne sais pas quoi faire…" (Sorry...I don't know…)

A sigh escaped Lloyd's throat and he hopped onto a chair, "Ça va...ça va?" (It's okay...are you okay?)

The other's eyes grew wider and he turned his head, "Est-ce que tu parles le français?" (You speak French?)

"Oui, je l'ai appris en école. Est-ce que tu es etonné?" (Yes, I learned it in school. Are you surprised?)

"Oui, un peu." (Yes, a little.)

"Est-ce que c'est bon?" (Is that good?)

"Bien sûr! Bien sûr!" (Of course! Of course!)

"Comment est-ce que tu sais le français?" (How do you know French?)

"Je suis de Canada." (I'm from Canada.)

"Canada? How long have you lived there?"

"Practically my whole life...we moved here about a year before I became a ninja."

"Wow, I didn't know you were from another country. That's so cool!"

Jay chuckled, "It's not that impressive. Cole moved to South America when he was young and Kai's from China."

Lloyd's jaw dropped, "Kai's from- why didn't anyone tell me?!"

Jay shrugged, "You never asked! I mean, it's kind of obvious."

"Not really."

"It is if you've ever heard him sleeping."

"Well _I_ don't listen to people talk in their sleep like some weird creep."

"I don't either!"

"Evidently you do."

They both cracked a smile and stared into each others' eyes- just for a moment- and Lloyd could've _sworn _he felt something while peering in those sapphire pools that had only ever surfaced with Kai (and maybe a couple of guys from boarding school…).

A blush crept over Jay's face and Lloyd wondered if maybe he too felt the same feeling, but he couldn't ask. Not when Kai burst through the door.

"Lloyd?"

"Kai!" the blonde boy immediately ran up and hugged him, "Why didn't you tell me you were from China?"

"Guess it never came up."

"You should speak in Chinese more often!"

"You mean Mandarin? And I don't know much- we moved here when I was little."

"Aw, okay…"

"Now make me a sandwhich."

"Make it yourself, lazy bum!" Lloyd pointed to the cupboards and laughed, Kai chuckling with him.

"Fine, but I'm not getting you one." Kai walked in the direction of the kitchen and Lloyd , this is how everything should feel. Kai and Lloyd were meant for each other, and any feelings for Jay?

"_Never happened in the first place."_

* * *

Nya walked out of the room and quietly shut the door. Those two certainly were acting weird- probably just a boy thing.

Jay's voice muffled through the wooden door, "Pretty good lie, huh?"

Wait, what was that?

"Okay, a: don't talk about it right after the person leaves the room and b: KISS."

"KISS?"

"Keep it simple, stupid."

"But it sounds so much more believable if there's details!"

"Then you have to keep track of those details, though! I was just gonna shrug- that could pass off as so many different things, if I even needed it to."

"Oh...woops."

"And really," Lloyd's voice dropped down to a whisper, and Nya strained to hear what he was saying. She laid her ear against the side of the door.

"No...she wouldn't...do that…"

There was silence, but the samurai's carefully trained hearing caught the sound of footsteps. She jumped behind the door just as it flung open. Lloyd peaked his head out of the room and Nya held her breath.

"You were lucky...this time."

Jay sighed in relief as Lloyd slammed the door shut.

Nya also let out a small, quiet sigh, "_Something fishy is going on,"_ the samurai thought, "_and I'm going to get to the bottom of it."_

* * *

**Jeez, I need to stop writing so much dialogue...Let's see what happens in ch.6.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks so much to my new, wonderful beta: Sketchdex**

**Man, this fic is becoming so grotesque...**

* * *

_A young boy clattered down the dimly-lit hallway. Two iron chains snaked their way up each of his legs and drug against the bare cement floor, the clanging echoing throughout the four walls, one of which was presumably at the end of this torturesome hall._

_The torchers all went out at once (save for a lone one resting between the boy's sickly-pale fingers) and the boy pulled his dirty, torn up cloak tighter around his body. Each step brought him further into this agonizingly bitter wind, each painstaking movement weighing the metallic entanglements down even further. Despite such freezing temperatures, his limbs felt like they had caught fire; what little strength he had left went to his legs. He had to keep moving._

_White colored the ceiling, walls and floor behind him, slowly moving closer, slowly catching up. This wasn't a pure, cleansing white, oh no. It was extremely sickening curdled milk-colored white that lined itself with dirt, vomit, urine, spit, and so much more. He wrinkled his nose and had to force himself to keep the rising bile down as it coiled along the chains toward him. Oh yes, he had to keep moving._

_Each anguishing step grew slower, leading him that much closer to the end of this putrid hall and that much closer to the disgusting white that plagued him. Soon the stench of what was behind burned through his nose. He stopped for a moment- just a moment- to empty the contents of his stomach._

"_Doyal!" a sharp voice hissed from behind and he had to cut himself short, a surge of adrenalin pumping through him. He ran, even with the weights dragging him back. They clawed at his tiny ankles, delivering bursts of pain that sent him even further into the hyperactive frenzy. A mix of acid and blood seeped into his mouth and sat there. For the second time his dinner was decomposing on the floor._

_Tears welled up in the boy's bright green eyes and-_

NO. NO crying. Crying is for those who are going to DIE.

_-he wiped them away._

"_Why mussst you continue to disssapoint me?" the voice nagged._

"_I don't want to…." the little boy whispered, "I'm sorry…"_

"_That'sss _NOT _an excussse!"_

_He no longer fought to continue on. Instead, he wrapped his arms around his legs and curled into a ball. The white was nearing him, but he refused to move. The last flame that was barely burning went out. For a second Doyal panicked, but then another voice pierced through this hell, northward. This one was gentle and kind with the stubbornness of Earth, the smoothness of ice, the energy of lightning and the passion of fire._

"_Brother," this new voice spoke, "This way."_

_Bright green enveloped and lightened all in front of him, clashing with the disgusting white from behind. Doyal rose and followed this voice- so beautiful, so familiar. Where had he heard this before? It was his own, and yet, it wasn't._

_The chains unclamped as he pressed on. His muscles rejoiced in this freedom, bolting with enough newfound energy toward two staircases: one golden set that spiraled upward and another, indigo, reaching down to the darkest depths. At first he scampered toward the indigo but backed off when he began to dry heave._

_With nowhere else to go, he bounded up the golden set, each joyous step making him feel lighter and lighter. He disappeared into the ceiling and came upon a door. It was golden, the same color as the steps, but its knob matched his eyes._

_Surprisingly, it was unlocked. Darkness surrounded every inch of this room, save for a shining mirror. As he approached it, a face came into view through the mirror. It was his. Wait, no, a trickle of blood raced down from his shaggy blonde hair. Yuck!_

_Doyal glanced at the sink he could've _sworn _wasn't there before. His hand extended towards the handle, hesitantly closing the gap between them. Once he finally reached it and turned it on, he cupped his palms underneath the water's flow. It wavered between burning hot and freezing cold at random intervals, but the boy didn't pull away until the makeshift cup was full, at which point he splashed the water onto his face._

_When he looked back up, for one, it appeared as if he had actually showered within the past week. However that was far from the only chang. His now clean, fluffy blonde hair laid neatly on his skull. A cute-as-a-button nose nested between two sparkling emerald eyes; freckles dotted his flawless skin and a green, complicated outfit replaced his simple black cloak._

_The feature that shocked him the most was that smile- that beautiful, perfect smile- which (quite literally) lit up the entire room._

"_AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"_

* * *

Lloyd woke up to an empty room, screaming. The first thing he did was take out his dream journal.

"_Who is this 'Doyal,' and why was I experiencing the dream through his point of view?" _he scribbled the memory down, "_That _was _me as the second voice and the face in the mirror, right? But then what about Doyal? Does he really look like that? Like me?"_

"Lloyd!" Kai and Jay both burst through the door to their bedroom at once, "Are you okay?!"

"We heard you scream like a girl and came running!"

"Are you hurt? What happened?" Kai inspected Lloyd carefully over every part of his body, who rolled his eyes.

"I'm fine! Just a bad dream."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm not five," the male narrowed his eyes in annoyance, "I can take care of myself."

Kai sighed, "You know you can tell me anything."

"I know."

Jay slumped against the door frame and watched as Kai held firmly onto Lloyd's shoulders, leaned in and kissed him. It was quick and casual- nothing unusual between the two, but now the lightning ninja felt his heart sink a fraction of an inch and wondered why this happened.

Lloyd broke away first- oh what a wonderful feeling! Such happiness- yes, him and Kai were meant for each other. Kai was perfect. Kai was love, Kai was life. And Jay was beautif-

"_Jay,"_ he corrected himself, "_Jay is Jay."_

The fire ninja squabled a bit longer but eventually Lloyd got him to leave the room.

"How do your wings feel?" the green ninja hopped onto his bed and reached under his pillow.

"A lot better! They must have been sprained."

He pulled out the black cover and flipped to a page near the middle of the book, "It could be, but you should still take a look at this."

The brunette scanned its contents upside-down, taking in a few pictures of broken wings, wings with missing feathers and wing x-rays.

"So what? They're telling us how to be a bird doctor?"

"No. It's showing how wings naturally heal and how much time it takes. Apparently they heal faster than other parts of the human body or their bird counterparts."

"Cool!"

"It's better than you think- a human's broken arm takes two and a half months to heal. According to this book wings take only a couple days!"

"Wha...but that's impossible!"

"And growing them isn't?"

The blue ninja let the lack of sound answer for him.

"Even if it was just a sprain, how would it be healed by now?"

Jay's mouth opened to answer, but no words formed in his head. It took a second for him to realize there really wasn't an answer and remained silent.

"See? It wouldn't be. But that means at least one thing in this book is right, so maybe the rest is too!"

"What else does it say?"

"You have to practice flying a lot?"

The blue ninja sighed, "Fine. After breakfast,'kay?"

"Kay."

* * *

Up on the deck, Lloyd and Jay were practicing not only Jay's flying skills, but also their co-operation skills which, frankly, could use a little touching up on. Who knows when the next villain could rear its ugly head?

"Sixty degree turn counter-clockwise with a wind back!"

Jay hovered in the air, simply staring at his instructor, "What does that even mean?!"

Just as Lloyd was about to shout a response, the door swung open and a masculine figure strode out to where the two were training.

"Hey guys, hope you don't mind if I-" the man froze, eyes wide at the flying creature, "...That doesn't look like a jetpack…"


End file.
